With over 15 years of birth support experience in the Lincoln area, I am asked quite often for my recommendations on how to prepare for childbirth in our community!

First and foremost, select your caregiver and birth location wisely. Yes, insurance coverage and a positive prior relationship need to be considered, but consider whether your gynecological provider is truly the best fit for your team, or whether you should find a maternity care provider who routinely attends births similar to your ideal birth plan instead. If your goal is a waterbirth, then you need to select both a caregiver and a birth location where waterbirth is supported and welcomed! If you want to avoid a Cesarean unless absolutely necessary, seek out a care provider with a low Cesarean rate who also wants to help you have a vaginal birth. If you are looking for a provider who explains everything to you during appointments, seek out that care! If you’re not feeling heard or respected in your current appointments, that’s unlikely to change for your birth. Remember, it’s only too late to switch caregivers if your baby is emerging from your body!

I encourage families to tour both birthing hospitals, Bryan East and CHI Health St Elizabeth, and if they’re interested, the CHI Health Birth Center at Lincoln, before making a decision. Both hospitals are high quality, both have excellent nursing staff, both have 24/7 anesthesia staffing, both have excellent obstetric emergency response protocols, and both have Level III NICUs in case your baby needs a higher level of care. However, the hospitals do have different room environments and layouts, and different epidural and Cesarean birth rates, so if you feel more comfortable and calm in one location than the other, listen to your gut feelings. The Birth Center is a wonderful option for those experiencing a low risk pregnancy and planning a low intervention, no epidural, birth!

My next suggestion is that families take a comprehensive childbirth education course, ideally one not hosted by the hospital so they get a good understanding of their options within the community at large in case there is a better fit for your birth plans elsewhere.

Next, they should consider whether they want to work with a birth doula. Birth doulas have a reputation for only working with people planning unmedicated births, but we work with everyone! Birth doulas provide emotional, physical, and informational support and advocacy before, during, and immediately following childbirth, and the benefits of having a doula on your birth team include greater satisfaction with the birth experience, lower requests for pain medication, reduced need for Pitocin to speed up labor, reduced need for Cesarean, increased lactation success, and higher APGAR scores for the baby!

Once they have decided whether they want a birth doula, they should consider having a postpartum doula. Postpartum doulas support the postpartum transition for the entire family with emotional, informational, and practical, partner and sibling support. Postpartum doula care benefits include reduced risk of perinatal mood disorders, increased success with lactation, and increased infant bonding!

Then, they should line up lactation support if they have any plans to breastfeed their baby or babies! MilkWorks is a long-standing community breastfeeding center, providing excellent lactation care in Southeast Lincoln! Melissa Hnosko provides in-home lactation support throughout the Lincoln area!

Following these preparations, consider your individual needs and goals! If you need prenatal chiropractic care, we have lots of fantastic chiropractors experienced in pregnancy in Lincoln! If you need physical or occupational therapy, we have those too! If you’re looking for prenatal yoga or prenatal exercise classes, we have amazing trainers and programs in the area!

Were these suggestions helpful? Was there something you had not thought of in my list of suggestions? Would you add more to my list?